Goose Island Amps Up Bourbon County Brands For Black Friday Release

Couldn't disagree with you more. I find it pretty pathetic when guys complain about distribution. You should be thankful you get any BCBS variants at all without having to travel to Chicago. Or paying some sort of membership fee to have the right to purchase a bottle like the racket the Bruery is running over in Cali. In all fairness all the variants (not only Prop) should stay in the Chicago market where GI made it's name. 4-5 years ago reg BCBS was only a dream, now it's all over the country and all the crybabies still want more, more, more.

 

Interesting - the farrell rep in northern VT said that unlike last year, you are allowed to sell it the second it lands in your store (this past week). Thats also what I heard from the places in VT that have been selling it this weekend.

 

We got ours in HI last Thursday. A Whole Foods near me put it on the shelves Friday around noon, after an hour, they were sold out of the 2 cases they were allotted. I don't think we get any variants though.

 

To be fair, you don't pay them for the opportunity to buy bottles, your money covers the breweriana you receive as well as small administrative fees plus your money's worth in beer. It's not like Upland where you get no beer for your membership, you get $300 worth of beer for your $300 with the Bruery (and most other memberships; Upland is the only ridiculous exception I can think of). You can then choose whether or not you want to purchase additional bottles that are only available for purchase to members of their club. I would hardly call getting $300 worth of beer plus swag plus rights to purchase more exclusive beer for $300 a "racket."

 

Something I'm curious about BCBB is the BCBS:fresh barrel ratio from last year. They've already said this year it's around 70% stout barrel and 30% fresh bourbon barrel, I wonder how that compares to last year.

 

5 years ago BCBS was a shelf turd, but nice try

source: Me buy 2008's off the shelf through the end of 2010.

 

Ah, so Goose Island (ABInBev) giveth and Goose Island (ABInBev) taketh away...That sort of thankful? It's a business. It's about money. They are going to send their product where the money is, not where people are most thankful. I am a consumer, therefor I have the right to voice my opinion. That is what I am thankful for.

 

Iowa is one of the first state's that Goose Island expanded into over 20 years ago. John Hall is an Iowa native, got his undergrad degree at the University of Northern Iowa and his MBA at the University of Iowa and he has always been a big supporter of Iowa. Iowa has been one of Goose Islands best selling states for decades and there is a connection and loyalty to this state from it's Founder/President that runs deeper than distribution channels. Goose has always treated Iowa very kindly with BCBS allotments in the past and it's only been the last few years we've seen that change. So yes, there is some frustration from some Iowans when we are seemingly getting left out from one of the variants that most everyone was looking forward to (Vanilla Rye) and allotments of the other variants are WAY down compared to prior years. We've done our part in supporting Goose Island for years and years and John Hall and Co have always returned the favor. It's not since the AB InBev takeover that things have changed and that loyalty/connection seems to be going the way for new markets and more money. It's frustrating, but at least we are still getting BCBS.

 

Just went on sale at one of my locals in Ventura County - posted via Instagram. Unfortunately I work in LA County and won't be home until tonight.

Kinda lame.....

 

I'm going to be away from my home base on Black Friday. Anyone have any idea on distribution in the Springfield Illinois are? I'm guessing they get a decent allocation because its IL, but I'm from Tn so I really have no clue.

 

As a former Springfieldian, they have in the past gotten a fair amount of allocation. For example, last year regular was easy to grab, but coffee and barleywine were fairly limited, not sure on the 22ozers. Your three best bets (based on past experiences) would be Friar Tucks, the Hyvee liquor store, or Famous Liquors. Friar Tuck will charge probably 8-10 bucks per bottle, just the way they do it. If I were you, I'd try Hyvee and Famous first, though I don't really like Famous for other reasons.

 

Thank you so much! I'll check those out. Do a lot of people line up early or can I show up at open and grab some? Last year in Nashville it wasn't too difficult to just show up and grab a 4 pack.

 

Where in Nashville are the best places? I live about 30 minutes outside of nashville and have been trying to decide where to go.

 

That's the whole thing. People aren't complaining about distribution, allocations, or availability in and of themselves. They're complaining about a cut back from previous distribution when sales and funding are up and Goose is pulling out of old markets (that have gotten King Henry, Rare, Coffee, Bramble Rye, Cherry Rye, Backyard Rye and BCBBW) that have supported them in the past 5-10+ years in order to shovel the variants over to new markets that haven't received variants (or even base BCBS) in the past.

I guess if Nebraska hadn't been a good base for their products, they wouldn't have sent out kegs of BCBS/Coffee/Barleywine/Backyard Rye/Proprietors and bottles of '10 Vanilla and King Henry this year for Migration Week?

 

According to Total Wine people, SC isn't getting any Vanilla Rye at all. I hope it's not true and only goes for Total Wine stores.

 

Where abouts are you? From what I've heard, Nashville is getting shafted this year. Last year for example, Red Dog in Franklin got 25 cases of regular, but expects only 4 this year with no variants. Frugal MacDougal in the downtown area of Nashville get one of the biggest allocations on everything in the area, and only expects 6 cases of regular and no variants. Depending on where you are located, I might have some better recommendations for you.

 

I'm in gallatin, but I was thinking about a place called pour vous in hendersonville. They get pretty decent distribution. I know they got some last year, but I don't know how much. That sucks to hear about our allotment! I thought about going to frugals but I didn't know what the line or limits would be like.

 

Just got an update from my local beer store. Apparently they're going to immediately start selling the beer upon the store's opening at 9:00 a.m.

What time should I get there in order to secure some BCBS?

I want the four pack of regular BCBS, the barleywine, the vanilla BCBS and the coffee BCBS. How much will this cost me?

 

Just got one here in Maine. A whole case just sitting there.

 

About to hammer down on this vertical.